Bulls Earn Second Seed for American Athletic Conference Championship
PROVIDENCE, R.I.,
April 15, 2019– USF's women's tennis team has earned the No. 2 seed, and a first-round bye, at the American Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Championship presented by Air Force Reserve.
The women's championship begins Wednesday, April 17, and continues through the April 20 final. The winner of the women's championship will earn The American's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Tennis Championships.
Seeds for the championships are determined by the Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings. The Bulls are 11-10 this season with a 4-2 conference record and rank 45
th nationally.
Competition in the American Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Championships will take place at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. Each match in the championship will consist of three doubles matches, each consisting of one set to six, followed by six singles matches, which will be played in a best-of-three-sets format.
Complete coverage of The American Tennis Championships, including live scoring of each match, can be found on the conference's
Championship Central site. Live coverage of the women's and men's finals will be available on the American Digital Network.
Championship Notes
Tulsa enters the American Women's Tennis Championship in search of its fourth title. The Golden Hurricane, seeded No. 3 in this year's event, previously won the championship in 2015, 2016 and 2018. Tulsa is 11-1 all-time in the American Championship.
The No. 1 seed has won the team championship only once in the tournament's five-year history (Tulsa in 2016). The championship has been won by a No. 1 seed, a No. 2 seed, two No. 3 seeds and a No. 7 seed.
The American has two teams in the most recent Oracle/ITA national rankings. UCF is ranked No. 23, while USF is No. 45.
UCF sophomore Valeryia Zeleva is the highest-ranked singles player in The American, entering this week at No. 48 in the Oracle/ITA rankings as of April 9. USF's
Ana Roman Dominguez is ranked No. 56, Tulsa's Martina Okalova is No. 80, UCF's Ksenia Kuznetsova is ranked No. 89, Wichita State's Fatima Bizhukova is No. 111, Tulsa's Martha Matoula is No. 112 and SMU's Vivienne Kulicke is No. 118.
The American has five doubles tandems ranked among the ITA's top 75, including Tulsa's Martina Oklalova/Vera Ploner, who are No. 13, and UCF's Valeriya Zeleva/Ksenia Kuznetsova, who are at No. 19.
Wichita State has won 11 conference titles (all as part of the Missouri Valley Conference) in the last 13 seasons.
ECU enters the American Championship with a program-record 22-match winning streak.
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
presented by AIR FORCE RESERVE
April 17-20 | Orlando, Florida
| First Round | Wednesday, April 17 |
|
| Match 1: No. 9 Temple (13-5) vs. No. 8 Memphis (12-9) |
9 a.m. |
| Match 2: No. 12 UConn (5-12) vs. No. 5 Wichita State (13-9) |
9 a.m. |
| Match 3: No. 11 Tulane (10-13) vs. No. 6 SMU (8-11) |
Noon |
| Match 4: No. 10 Cincinnati (11-10) vs. No. 7 ECU (22-2) |
Noon |
| |
|
| Quarterfinals | Thursday, April 18 |
|
| Match 5: Temple/Memphis winner vs. No. 1 UCF (19-3) |
Noon |
| Match 6: UConn/Wichita State winner vs. No. 4 Tulsa (14-9) |
Noon |
| Match 7: Tulane/SMU winner vs. No. 3 Houston (14-6) |
3 p.m. |
| Match 8: Cincinnati/ECU winner vs. No. 2 USF (11-10) |
3 p.m. |
| |
|
| Semifinals | Friday, April 19 |
|
| Match 9: Match 5 winner vs. Match 6 winner |
3 p.m. |
| Match 10: Match 7 winner vs. Match 8 winner |
3 p.m. |
| |
|
| Final | Saturday, April 20 | American Digital Network |
|
| Match 11: Semifinal winners |
3 p.m. |
all times Eastern
Be sure to follow USF women's tennis on social media (Twitter / Facebook / Instagram) and visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information.
Head coach Cristina Moros will be in her fifth year at the helm, as she led the program to an American Athletic Conference Championship in 2017.
– #GoBulls –
